Frequently asked questions

macOS 14.6 or later. CheckYourself uses native Sonoma APIs for the layout editor and printing pipeline, so older versions aren't supported.

No. There's no email signup, no password, no verification loop. Install, type your bank details into the Accounts pane, and you're ready to print.

1.1 MB. It opens in under a second on Apple Silicon and runs offline.

English (with US/Canadian terminology that adapts to the account country), Spanish, and Canadian French.

Yes — but only for testing. CheckYourself can draw the entire cheque on plain 8.5" × 11" paper, which is perfect for dialing in alignment and trying out the free tier's VOID mode.

For cheques you actually deposit, use proper blank cheque stock. It's heavier (typically 28–32 lb.), carries the security features banks expect, and looks the part. A ream runs about $15–$25 and lasts most users a year or more.

The blank stock we test against is available on Amazon: United States · Canada.

We recommend the blank cheque stock listed below — it's what we test the app against, includes the security features required by banks, and works with every layout the app supports.

• Blank cheque stock on Amazon US
• Blank cheque stock on Amazon Canada

These are affiliate links — using them sends a small commission to Jamlabs and doesn't change the price you pay.

Any laser or inkjet printer that prints on 8.5" × 11" paper. For high-volume use where you need full magnetic readability, a MICR-toner cartridge is a worthwhile upgrade and is widely available for most HP and Brother lasers.

Not for most use cases. Modern bank scanners are optical and accept standard-toner MICR lines through image-exchange processing. If you're depositing high volumes at a single bank, MICR toner gives you a small extra margin of reliability — but it's not required to clear cheques.

Four layouts that cover virtually every cheque stock vendor: 3-per-page (three full cheques on a sheet), top-stub, middle-stub, and bottom-stub.

Open the Calibration pane and print the calibration grid on a regular sheet. Hold both up to a window and note how far each field is off. Use the per-account horizontal/vertical offsets to nudge fields a millimeter at a time. Save when it lands — the offset is remembered per account.

In nearly every case, yes. CheckYourself's output conforms to ANSI X9.100-20 (US) or CPA Standard 006 (Canada). Image-exchange clearing reads the cheque from a digital image, not from physical magnetic ink, which is why standard-toner output clears without issue.

That said, individual bank policies vary. If you're not sure, ask your bank's small-business line before printing a stack.

Output is verified across major US and Canadian banks via branch deposit, mobile deposit, ATM imaging, and ACH processing. We don't publish a blessed list because policies change, but if you have a specific bank in mind, drop us an email and we'll tell you what we've seen.

Yes. Each account in CheckYourself has its own register, numbering, and address — perfect for law firms running IOLTA, real-estate brokerages, or accountants writing cheques from multiple client books.

That said, trust account regulations vary by jurisdiction. Confirm with your regulator that personally-printed cheques are acceptable for trust use in your area.

Yes. Canadian accounts holding USD funds use the correct CPA transaction codes, so cheques clear through the appropriate US-dollar Canadian clearing channel.

CheckYourself auto-detects columns named (case-insensitive): payee, amount, memo, date. If your columns are named differently, you can pick them in the import dialog or rename the headers in your spreadsheet.

Yes — export your payroll, vendor, or AP list as a CSV from your accounting software and drop it into CheckYourself. The auto-detection covers the column names QuickBooks, Xero, Wave, and FreshBooks export by default.

The print queue is pause-and-resume. Hit pause, fix the issue, resume — or save the queue and come back tomorrow. Auto-saved drafts mean nothing's ever lost, even if you quit the app or your Mac restarts.

There's no hard limit. We've tested batches of several thousand cheques without issue. Practically, batch size is limited by your printer's paper tray and your willingness to refill it.

Free prints fully-formed cheques — same fields, same MICR, same layout — but with a "VOID" watermark on every cheque. Paid removes the watermark so cheques can be deposited. Everything else is identical between tiers.

System Settings → Apple ID → Subscriptions → CheckYourself → Cancel Subscription. Two clicks, no phone trees, no retention emails. You'll keep paid features until the end of the current billing period.

Yes, from the same Subscriptions page. Plan changes generally take effect at the end of your current billing period — Apple stops renewing the old plan and starts the new one.

No. CheckYourself does not support Family Sharing — each person who wants to print depositable cheques needs their own subscription. The same Apple ID can be used on multiple Macs you personally own.

Refunds are processed through Apple, not Jamlabs. Request a refund at reportaproblem.apple.com — Apple's policies apply.

No. The Apple privacy label says "Data Not Collected" because we don't collect any. No telemetry, no analytics, no crash reporters, no third-party SDKs. Your account numbers and cheque history never leave your Mac unless you choose to sync your data folder through iCloud, Dropbox, or another service.

Wherever you put it. By default, CheckYourself stores your data in ~/Library/Containers/com.jamlabs.checkyourself. You can also point the app at any folder — iCloud Drive, Dropbox, OneDrive, a local backup drive — to sync between Macs or keep an automatic backup.

The app reverts to the free tier — your data, registers, and accounts all stay intact. You can keep printing watermarked cheques, and resubscribing at any time restores the full feature set without re-entering anything.

Most reads fail because of paper handling, not the cheque itself. Make sure the cheque is unfolded, not wrinkled in the MICR band along the bottom edge, and printed face-up. If you're using standard toner, the bank's image-exchange system will still read the cheque optically, but a manual reread is sometimes needed at older branches.

That's almost always an alignment issue. Open Calibrate, print the grid on plain paper, and overlay it on a blank cheque to see where each field needs to move. Per-account offsets are saved so you only have to do this once per stock vendor.

On first launch, macOS may ask for Printer Access — grant it. If you've quarantined the app, right-click the icon and choose Open to bypass Gatekeeper. If the app still refuses to open, email support@jamlabs.com with your macOS version and we'll help you diagnose.

The importer skips rows with no payee or no amount. If you're seeing fewer rows than expected, open the CSV in Numbers and check for empty cells, stray commas, or extra header rows.

Per-account offsets are stored alongside your data folder. If you didn't move that folder to the new Mac (or sync it through iCloud), you'll need to re-run the calibration once. We recommend setting the data folder to a synced location to avoid this.